Cheetors "Ursa Miner" Space Dwarfs: Dark Lord and Governor 15/08/13

[cheetor]

The veer-myn that I painted recently were fun to work on and were reacted to quite positively.  Bouyed up by this I decided to paint up some more Warpath figures.

This time it was my first batch of Forgefathers: The Brotherhood of the Bear (The Ursa Miners).



The forgefather plastics are not as nice as the veer-myn to paint, but I found them to be quick and satisfying to finish all the same, if maybe a little bit too retro and/or comical for some peoples tastes.  As cheap and cheerful filler for my sci-fi games they are fine with me.



I chose the colour scheme above for a few different reasons. I go into a little more detail as to why on my blog in addition to including a few more photos.



Mainly the idea was that I wanted to make sure that the figures didnt look too fantasy so I played up some things and avoided others.



Lastly above is a comp shot with one of my Chaos Space Marines.  The Forgefathers are titchy little guys.


I have some Grymn and Squat stuff to add to these guys in addition to more Forgefathers.  I will post them up here as I go.

Comments and criticisms all gratefully received

[Dr.Falkenhayn]

not very keen on the Minis but the Painting is superb,excellent Camo 

[Hawkeye]

These guys are great - love the dark scheme, and the checked camo, and you picked out just the right amount of detailing to bring them to life (the yellow piping on the clothes and the red eyes/goggles are brilliant). How many more of these are the on the way? Any vehicles? I have a couple of resin Old Crow that are a little small for what I wanted them for (28mm sci-fi), so if you think they'd work for these guys, let me know, and I'll pop them in the post for you. They're not getting used here, so you're very welcome to them - just send me a PM. Love their little dog too!

[cheetor]

not very keen on the Minis but the Painting is superb,excellent Camo  

I dont know the first thing about real camouflage, but I wanted to try to make the capes on the models look less fantasy by turning them into the sort of thing often seen on sniper models.  I am pleased with the effect, even if I doubt that it bears much resemblance to any real camouflage patterns.

As for the Mantic figures, they are a bit retro thats for sure

I do sometimes find that painting a large turnover of simpler figures is a good palette cleanser (if you pardon the pun) after getting a little bogged down after painting character models with finer detail.

Thanks for the feedback

How many more of these are the on the way?

Another ten or so are done with a few more on the way.  I dont know when I will run out of steam with these guys so I am just motoring through them currently before I get distracted by something else.

Any vehicles? I have a couple of resin Old Crow that are a little small for what I wanted them for (28mm sci-fi), so if you think they'd work for these guys, let me know, and I'll pop them in the post for you. They're not getting used here, so you're very welcome to them - just send me a PM.

Thats an offer thats tough to refuse, thanks.  Consider yourself PM'ed Hawkeye (and thanks for the feedback).

Love their little dog too!

Max the Huscarl and his little furry buddy Freeway are likely to be divisive I expect.  Not to everyones tastes, but entertainingly Rogue Trader-y as far as I am concerned.

[Hawkeye]

Max and Freeway do have a very Rogue Trader feel to them - that's probably why I liked them! Looking at the size of the models compared to the Space Marine figure, I think they'll work well with the Old Crow vehicles. No problem about those, by the way - I've already replied to your PM! More than happy to send them your way.
So, is there a set of rules associated with the latest batch of sci-fi you're painting, or will you use and adapt another set that you currently already play? These guys and the Space Rats would look great together in a game, which is why I ask!

[Tacgnol]

These look so Rogue Trader. The yellow lining works really well!

[Steve F]

Max the Huscarl and his little furry buddy Freeway are likely to be divisive I expect.  Not to everyones tastes, but entertainingly Rogue Trader-y as far as I am concerned.

Really? They're the only models from the Forge Fathers range I like at all!  Nice paint, too.

[Lovejoy]

I really didn't like the forgefathers plastics - they just looked way too fantasy based for me. But this paintjob changes that totally! They look great; I might even buy some now...

[cheetor]

So, is there a set of rules associated with the latest batch of sci-fi you're painting, or will you use and adapt another set that you currently already play? These guys and the Space Rats would look great together in a game, which is why I ask!

I want to play skirmish games set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe (or at least my slightly more Rogue Trader-y interpretation of it). 

I plan to assemble Inquisitorial retinues as the main protagonists.  I also want to have a number of small antagonistic forces to go up against them in addition to the old 40k armies that I already have.  Hence the small space ratmen force and these space dwarfs and my upcoming Adeptus Mechanicus.  My Judge Dredd stuff fits in nicely as Arbites and other small factions too.

When I was reading an Inquisitor Eisenhorn book last year it dawned on me that the stories told in that had a lot in common with James Bond movies.  As a result I started researching 7TV as a potential system for playing games set in the 40k-verse and ended up buying the whole lot of their rules.

So thats the plan right now, we will see how it goes.

These look so Rogue Trader. The yellow lining works really well!

Thanks.  The yellow lining was intended to brighten up the figures in a sci-fi sort of way and also to hint at industrial elements (like yellow hazard lines or a JCB or something).

I was going to paint mine orange and blue. Now I am all conflicted. Those are the most beautiful forge fathers I have ever seen bar none. Gritty and realistic and looking super bad in those colours and cammo. Damm man that is something else.

Very kind, thanks.  I did put a fair bit of thought into the scheme for these guys and I think that it shows.  There are better space dwarf miniatures than the Forgefathers out there but these guys have an appeal too.  They are cheap and quick to paint to make up the rank and file grunts, leaving more time and money to focus on fun vehicles or characters or whatever.

Orange and blue might work, depending on how you arrange it.  "minion" did some great work on Grymn that uses some bright colours.

Really? They're the only models from the Forge Fathers range I like at all!  Nice paint, too.

Oops.  I posted about those figures being divisive in a hurry and made a mistake by including the Huscarl in that.  I meant that a space bulldog with cyber-goggles mightnt appeal to everybody.  The Huscarl is quite a cool model I think, easily the best in the FF range so far.  Sorry for the confusion.

I really didn't like the forgefathers plastics - they just looked way too fantasy based for me. But this paintjob changes that totally! They look great; I might even buy some now...

Most (but not all) Forgefather paint schemes that I have seen play up the fantasy elements, which I think is a mistake.

The FFs are dirt cheap too, so if you cant make them work for you then its no great loss.

 

[Steve F]

Oops.  I posted about those figures being divisive in a hurry and made a mistake by including the Huscarl in that.  I meant that a space bulldog with cyber-goggles mightnt appeal to everybody.  The Huscarl is quite a cool model I think, easily the best in the FF range so far.  Sorry for the confusion.

Actually, it's the dog that I really like! 

I think the whole idea of space dwarfs is what's divisive.  I'm on the side that thinks, "I can see that high gravity might, over generations, make people short and muscular, but why would it make them all male, old, beer-bellied, big-headed, bearded and obsessed with vikings?"  I find that a particularly off-putting style for uniformed military types, but less so for the odd individual, like the huscarl.

None of which detracts from your painting or presentation, of course, which s why I'm happy to look at the pictures.  De gustibus non disputandum est, and all that.

[cheetor]

Actually, it's the dog that I really like!  

I loved assembling and painting the dog actually.  I am tempted to do a few more.  And to add Hasslefrees Smudge

I think the whole idea of space dwarfs is what's divisive.

Yeah, I agree.  

Funnily enough space dwarfs never really appealed to me very much.  The reason that this lot got painted at all was a confluence of circumstances and events and a sudden idea for how to paint them, rather than getting fully behind the Gimli-in-space concept.

Still, I dont get too worried about how the space dwarf trope fits in to my games and figures all the same.

I generally subscribe to the idea that if fantasy settings make too much sense then the obvious absurdity of the whole thing tends to be thrown into stark relief, so I embrace beer swilling, high-gravity world mining, Hagar the Horrible type short space people.  

Space Viking Dwarfs dont jar me out of my suspension of disbelief as much as those pompously self conscious Christian Bale Batman movies for example (get over yourselves movie writer guys, its a story about a man in his pyjamas with ears on his hat who punches guys instead of shooting them.  Stop trying to be realistic and embrace its inherent ridiculousness, like Tim Burton did).

A bit of a mild rant there

I'm on the side that thinks, "I can see that high gravity might, over generations, make people short and muscular, but why would it make them all male, old, beer-bellied, big-headed, bearded and obsessed with vikings?"  I find that a particularly off-putting style for uniformed military types, but less so for the odd individual, like the huscarl.

Largely I am in agreement with you.  I particularly dont like the Guild bike elements from the old Squat forces for example.  A step too far in my opinion, but concerns like these wont stop me from having a laugh with ridiculous objective pieces like these, which you will likely hate  



I think that those three manage to hit each of your "male, old, beer-bellied, big-headed, bearded and obsessed with vikings" criteria.

 

None of which detracts from your painting or presentation, of course, which s why I'm happy to look at the pictures.  De gustibus non disputandum est, and all that.

Absolutely.  Just a fun chat about silly toy soldiers  Thanks for the feedback.

[emperorpenguin]

I want to play skirmish games set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe (or at least my slightly more Rogue Trader-y interpretation of it). 

I plan to assemble Inquisitorial retinues as the main protagonists.  I also want to have a number of small antagonistic forces to go up against them in addition to the old 40k armies that I already have.  Hence the small space ratmen force and these space dwarfs and my upcoming Adeptus Mechanicus.  My Judge Dredd stuff fits in nicely as Arbites and other small factions too.

Have you considered using "In The Emperor's Name" as a ruleset? It fits the bill perfectly and is what I use. http://thegamesshed.wordpress.com/2011/07/02/in-the-emperors-name/
I'm getting Forgefathers to use as Squats in that myself.

By the way, where in Ireland are you?

[Steve F]

Has that dead'un got his tongue sticking out?  Splendid!

Anyway, I'll let you get back to sleeping in your moulded rubber pyjamas now!

(Scary thought: Tim Burton's first Batman movie is as old now as the 1960s TV series was when Burton made his version.)

[cheetor]

Anyway, I'll let you get back to sleeping in your moulded rubber pyjamas now!

I wrote a response to this but reconsidered as it may derail the thread.  My rubberized sleeping arrangements can be the subject of another conversation some other time

Have you considered using "In The Emperor's Name" as a ruleset? It fits the bill perfectly and is what I use.

My gaming group tried ItEN last year.  An account of our progress can be seen here.



In short, we didnt enjoy it nearly as much as we had hoped.  My group comprises of ex-40k players who like the fluff and read the books and have painted armies in storage.  We are fans that live in hope of finding the ideal rule set to play games using our 40k stuff, so we had high hopes for ItEN, but it didnt work out for us 

I very much enjoyed looking through the ItEN force lists and the like, but I dont think that we will be playing the game again any time soon.

Have you had a different experience of using that ruleset?

By the way, where in Ireland are you?

Here, in County Cork.

[emperorpenguin]

I've enjoyed the games of it which I played, even when my IG got slaughtered by Tau. But I'll have a read of your blog and see what you thought.

I'm in Dublin, was hoping you might be nearby, nevermind!